


Into Thin Air

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Good Hunting [16]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-08 17:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12258663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Any, Any, love spells never work out."Team McKay-Sheppard are on the hunt for living air to open the portal to Atlantis. They encounter microbursts, murder, witches, and elemental air.





	Into Thin Air

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ariel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/872609) by [kathkin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathkin/pseuds/kathkin). 



“Since we’re taking a page out of literature and pop culture, I figured I’d go with the easy option first,” Vala said. She held up a jug of wine and a bowl. “Find a nice grove, set it out, let the sylph come accept the offering, and - trap it.”

“Sylph,” John echoed.

Over the last week, everyone had spent their waking moments conferring with Team O’Neill and trying to build a list of potential elemental components that could, with the right alchemy, make a human.

Vala nodded, smiled brightly. “Paracelsus was an alchemist, and he sort of - invented four elemental creatures: gnomes, ondines, sylphs, and salamanders.”

“Salamanders are a real thing,” Sam pointed out.

“Well, they were named after the fire-lizards of legend. Whatever.” Vala tossed her head. “I did my research. If we find one of each of these things, we should be able to alchemy up our own pseudo-human.”

“It’s not a terrible plan,” Dean conceded. “Gnomes are also a variety of fair folk, like hidden people under the hill. Ondines are like - river nymphs or mermaids. Salamanders are like dragons. Sylphs are like - uh. Air fairies?” He slanted a look at Evan that Miko couldn’t quite read.

“In Shakespeare,” Vala said, “the magician Prospero had enslaved an ‘airy spirit’ named Ariel.”

“Like the Little Mermaid?” Rodney asked. At Sam’s raised eyebrows, Rodney protested, “I have a little niece.”

“Disney borrowed the name from Shakespeare,” Vala said.

They were sitting around one of the research tables in the basement, drinking coffee. Miko was pretty sure she had forgotten what the upper floors of the Bunker looked like.

“Or from the Hebrew name meaning _lion of god,”_ Sam muttered.

“Since when do you read Shakespeare?” Dean asked Vala.

“I’m learning to be British. British people read Shakespeare.” She lifted her chin defiantly. “Cam said so. _Anyway,_ remember the time we trapped Northot by engineering our own trap? We can do one for the wind spirit. According to Celtic mythology, a little dish of wine in a nice grove will bring a wind spirit. So let’s do this.”

“What constitutes a nice grove?” John asked.

“I suppose anything that’s not too urbanized.” Vala shrugged.

“We could do that,” Evan said, “or we could see about taking on a goddess.” He pushed his tablet into the middle of the table.

Miko leaned in and peered at the image on the screen, of a woman in blue sitting on a horse.

John reared back. “I’m sorry, did you say a _goddess?”_

Evan nodded. “Look, Dogoda is the Slavic goddess of love - and wind. There have been microbursts in the same neighborhood over and over again and - get this - a rash of homicides. All involving love triangles and jealousy.”

“Sounds like a _telenovela,”_ Dean murmured.

Sam raised his eyebrows. “How would you know?”

“I’ve been working on my Spanish.” Dean avoided his gaze.

Miko cleared her throat. “The last time there were microbursts in San Francisco, we got more than we bargained for.”

“You’re sure it’s this goddess?” Rodney asked.

“Relatively sure,” Evan said. “The omens fit. Classic signs of an Old World deity going out of control in an attempt to maintain power in the New World where devotee numbers are down.”

John slapped a hand down on the tablet, covering the image. “Am I the only one who didn’t miss the part where you people want to take on a _god?_ Ghosts and vampires I get, but a freakin’ _deity_ seems like a really poor choice.”

“Deities aren’t quite what you think they are,” Vala said. “Sometimes they’re demons who take on the identity of old deities, like Qetesh.”

That she said the name so casually made Miko proud of her, because Vala’s time as Qetesh’s host had been long and terrible.

“Deities are just - unique monsters,” Rodney said. “Powered by human worship, and bound by the theology that spawned them, as it were.”

“I think, between an air spirit who has a drinking problem and a wind goddess, I’d go with the air spirit,” John said.

“The wind goddess is a sure thing,” Evan said, “and the air spirit is not. Of course, I’m neither the ranking military officer nor the ranking civilian, so - John. Rodney. It’s up to you.”

Vala waggled her jug of wine enticingly.

Rodney and John looked at each other, something unspoken passing between them.

“Both,” Rodney said.

Miko blinked. “Both?”

Rodney nodded. “We go and track the omens of this goddess, and in the meantime, do further research on creating a binding for an air spirit.”

Dean and Evan exchanged a look that Miko couldn’t read.

“All right. Sounds good,” John said.

Rodney scooped up his laptop. “Let’s get moving.”

Everyone gathered up their gear and headed back up to their quarters to start packing. Halfway up the stairs, Miko fished her cellphone out of her pocket and called Yuki.

_“Moshi-moshi?”_

_“Yuki-neesan, genki desu ka?”_

_“Miko! Imouto-chan! Genki desu!_ What’s up?”

“My team and I are going to be in your neck of the woods for a work thing. Can we stop by, say hi, get some of your famous sushi?”

“Absolutely!”

“Great. I’ll have Evan wrangle the details, all right?”

“All right. It’ll be great to hear from Evan again, to see you all. _Dai suki, Miko-chan!”_

_“Dai suki, Yuki-neesan.”_

This was it. Phase One. The first step on the path toward Atlantis.

*

Miko hopped off the bus outside the Church of St. Ludmila and stretched. “We should definitely take more California hunts in the winter,” she said to Sam, who she’d been navigating for.

“A hunt in Hawaii,” Dean said, climbing down after them and rolling his shoulders. “That would be perfect this time of year.”

“I’ll be sure to get on to the Powers That Be about a convenient hunt in Hawaii,” Rodney snapped. He stepped off the bus, cast about him. “Where is that little -?”

Rodney’s contact was a fellow physicist, Dr. Radek Zelenka, who’d worked on a sustainable fusion project with Rodney before he was hired on with Project Orion. He was short, with wild brown hair, glasses, and a tweedy jacket.

“Rodney,” he said, bustling down the steps of the church. “So good to see you.”

He pulled Rodney into a hug. John looked alarmed for Rodney’s sake, but Rodney just rolled his eyes, patted Radek gingerly on the shoulder.

“Yes, Radek, hi, always glad to have you invade my personal space.”

Radek stepped back. “Miko! So good to see you too!”

She beamed at him, leaned in and let him kiss her on the cheek. “I wasn’t sure if you would remember me.”

“How could I forget you? You demolished me at Tetris every time I dared to play.” Radek pushed his glasses up his nose, peered up at Sam. “And who is this?”

“Lieutenant Sam Winchester, Air Force.” Sam offered a hand.

Radek shook it slowly, still taking him in. “You are not wearing a uniform.”

“Our post has unusual guidelines,” Sam said.

“You are also a physicist?”

“A JAG officer, actually. Military lawyer.”

Radek blinked. “Oh.”

Miko made the rest of the introductions. “Vala Mal Doran, a civilian contractor. She specializes in security systems.”

“Well, mostly in breaking them.” Vala offered Radek one of her sweetest smiles, and for a moment he was intimidated, because women who looked like Vala rarely smiled at him.

“Captain Dean Winchester, United States Marines,” Miko continued. “He’s our weapons expert.”

“You paint ‘em, I gank ‘em.” Dean grinned.

“Gank?” Radek echoed, puzzled.

“Evan Lorne, our quartermaster.”

Evan offered his hand. “How do you do?”

“Well, thank you.” Radek looked bewildered at Evan’s snappy outfit.

“Major John Sheppard, Air Force. He’s our designated pilot,” Miko continued.

Radek peered past John at the tour bus they’d rolled up in.

“Only for emergencies,” John said. “So, you worked with Rodney? Before?”

“Yes. It was - classified. And now I teach. Please, come with me.” Radek beckoned, and the team followed him around the corner to a pleasant little cafe.

Radek was impressed when Evan ordered kolaches for everyone in flawless Czech, and then they gathered around a table in the corner, sipping hot beverages while Radek explained what was going on.

He taught physics at a local community college, but he was a highly respected figure in the community, so when there was a rash of marital strife - and accompanying violence - people had turned to him for assistance. Was it something in the water? Was it the plague of immodest and impious American women, flaunting themselves and turning the heads of honest, faithful husbands with their capitalist excess? Was it something - darker? Radek had been more interested in the microbursts, which were an unusual weather phenomenon in an urban setting. He wasn’t the only person who’d noticed that the microbursts seemed to coincide with the crazy attacks.

“Crazy attacks?” Evan asked. He was taking notes.

Radek nodded. “Once, strange. Twice, coincidence. Three times, a pattern. Faithful husband leaves his wife, wife attempts to murder his new lover.”

“Are we sure it’s not some kind of - psychological thing?” Sam asked. “Certain things, like suicide, can be contagious, in a sense. One person does it, copycats follow.”

“I considered that, have consulted with a psychologist at the college.” Radek downed his coffee and reached for the carafe for a refill. He drank it the way Rodney did.

Miko wondered if one of them had learned it from the other.

“But these microbursts - each one of them took place within a one-block radius of the assault victim’s home precisely three days before each man left his wife.” Radek darted a hunted glance over his shoulder.

“That’s not something humans can control,” Rodney said, and cast Miko a significant look.

Not something ordinary humans could control, at any rate. But it was definitely something gods could control.

“Precisely,” Radek said. “So I reached out to one of my contacts, and apparently my contacts reached out to you.”

“Who’s your contact?” Evan asked.

“Dr. Akane Saito. She teaches psychology at the same college as me.”

“Ah, my sister’s wife.” Miko nodded. “I told Yuki we’d stop in, by the way. For some sushi.”

Dean lit up.

Rodney quelled any comments from him with a look, turned to Radek. “We’re here to help. What readings do you have about the microbursts?”

Radek reached into his laptop bag. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Something supernatural was definitely going on, or there was some very advanced tech in play, because each microburst had been of identical duration and intensity.

“What do you think it means?” Radek asked, after Rodney, Miko, and Sam looked over the data.

“We’ll need to do some digging,” Rodney said. “All of the assault victims - do they speak English?”

Radek considered. “To varying degrees, yes.”

“Which one speaks the worst English?”

“Eliska Novotny.” Radek tapped the list of names he’d supplied, of persons of interest.

“Lorne, Miko, you take her. Vala, Dean, you take Bodhana Prochazka. Sam, you and John take Julia Kral.” Rodney finished his coffee.

“Do you need anything further from me?” Radek asked.

“Not right now,” Rodney said, “but thank you.” To the others, he said, “Let’s go.”

*

Miko wondered when it had become old hat, to pretext as a law enforcement officer. In her youth, she’d been obedient and law-abiding, respectful of the police and other authority figures. As she’d gotten older and her affinity for physics increased, she’d found herself on the run from local beat cops more than once when she’d taken her physics experiments out of the house so as not to upset her parents or accidentally blow something up, but she’d still generally respected the letter of the law.

Now she stood beside Evan and flipped open a fake badge with a practiced flick of her wrist. “Agent Miko Hayashi, FBI.”

“Agent Evan Winchester, FBI.” When Evan was pretexting as a Fed, he wore a cheap Fed suit, just like the rest, but he still looked pretty sharp.

Miko resisted the urge to giggle, because _Evan Winchester_ just sounded too cute.

“Why do the Feds care about some third-rate Commie telenovela wannabes?” the desk sergeant asked.

“Organized crime task force,” Miko said. “Miss Novotny is a person of interest in one of our cases.”

The amusement slid off of the desk sergeant’s face. “Oh.” She swallowed hard. “I’ll get the detective in charge.”

The detective in charge, Kate Lockley, was blonde, beautiful, and unimpressed with the FBI’s presence.

“We interviewed Eliska Novotny extensively. She admitted to using excessive force in defending herself but nothing else. She works in a beauty parlor. She has _zero_ mafia connections.”

Evan said, “She’s a person of interest in an ongoing investigation, and more than that, we cannot say.”

Detective Lockley showed them into the observation bay of the interrogation room where Eliska Novotny - brunette, curvaceous, pouting down at her fake nails - was waiting.

“Good luck,” Lockley said. “She barely speaks English.”

“Thank you.” Evan inclined his head graciously, opened the door into the room and gestured for Miko to precede him. He smiled at Eliska and said, _“Dobré ráno.”_

She looked up sharply, surprised, and answered in Czech.

Miko set her phone on the table to record the interview even though she wouldn’t be able to understand a word of what was being said.

Evan conversed with Eliska, expression patient and mild. At first she was defensive, arms crossed over her chest, leaning back in her chair, mouth pulled into a perpetual frown. But as he spoke to her, she opened up, leaned in, eyes wide and trusting. She started speaking faster, sketching shapes and concepts in the air with her hands. Evan nodded, taking notes, asking clarifying questions.

When the interview was finished, Eliska shook Evan’s hand, smiling sweetly at him. Miko shut off the recorder on her phone and stood up as well. Eliska shook her hand, too.

Miko and Evan stepped out of the interrogation room and into the observation bay where Detective Lockley was waiting, eyebrows raised.

“You speak fluent Czech?”

“I’m not as talented as some of the other Agency linguists,” Evan said, ducking his head modestly. No doubt he was referring to Daniel Jackson. “But the Agency does its best to utilize its resources effectively.”

“What did she say?”

“Unfortunately nothing that is pertinent to your investigation.” Evan tucked his notebook into his pocket. “Let’s go, Miko.”

As soon as they were out of the police station, they headed down the street, back toward St. Ludmila’s.

“What did she actually say?” Miko asked. Unlike when she walked with Sam, Dean, and John, Evan modified his stride so Miko didn’t have to trot to keep up with him.

“She says she got a love spell from a girl at the church.”

Miko raised her eyebrows. “A witch?”

“Possibly,” Evan said. “Or maybe the goddess herself.” He headed up the stairs and into the church.

Miko followed him. Evan immediately softened his footfalls, slowed his movements. He was always respectful in someone else’s sacred space, no matter the nature of their faith. He paused at the back of the central aisle, inclined his head politely in the direction of the ornate crucifix at the other end of the church above the altar, and then continued skirting around the pews until he reached the confessional booths.

“See?” Evan pointed up to one of the stained glass windows that featured a woman in a blue dress, expression beatific, hands raised in prayer, head haloed in white and gold. “St. Ludmila.” His voice was low, reverent.

There was a table beneath the stained glass window covered with rows of votive candles, half of them unlit, and also smaller icons of the saint - painted tiles, printed cards, fake plastic stained glass mini windows.

Evan pointed to one of the icons, which featured St. Ludmila astride a horse.

“That’s Dogoda, goddess of wind and love.”

Miko peered at it. “Oh. Oh! In a church? That is very - brazen.”

“A lot of pagan deities were folded into Christian mythology, either as saints or spirits. Plenty of people still worship both side-by-side.” Evan leaned in to one of the candles, pursed his lips, and blew.

The wick burst alight.

Evan straightened up, and for a moment he looked like an icon himself, bathed in soft golden light. Then he spun away, beckoned to Miko, and ducked into one of the pews. He sat down and folded his hands on his knees, bowed his head. Miko sat down beside him.

She kept her breaths steady and calm, waiting, listening. She knew the look that had crossed Evan’s face right before he moved. They were staking the place out.

They didn’t have to wait long. Miko had just about run through every Christian-based exorcism prayer she’d memorized when she sensed movement on her nine. She bowed her head, let her hair fall forward, and peered out of the corner of her eye.

A young woman, pale-haired, wearing a gray dress and a white apron, came shuffling around the corner, sweeping. She paused, propped her broom up against a pillar, and bowed her head over the little side table of votive candles. She picked up the icon of Dogoda, kissed it, and then set it down, lit a candle for it.

Evan was out of his seat smoothly. “Sobeska?”

The girl straightened up, eyes wide. “H-hallo?”

“Sobeska, I spoke to Eliska.”

Sobeska squeaked and grabbed her broom.

“No, you’re not in trouble,” Evan said, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “I just want to talk to you, all right?”

Sobeska gazed up at him with wide eyes.

Evan smiled at her, full wattage, going for the dimples, and Sobeska relaxed.

“Just talk?” she asked.

Evan nodded earnestly. “Yes. Please. Somewhere private?”

Sobeska bit her lip, but then she nodded. She darted a glance at Miko.

“She’s a friend,” Evan said.

Sobeska nodded again, beckoned, and led them out back to the alley. She clutched her broom, her grip white-knuckled.

“About Eliska, Bodhana, and Julia,” Miko began.

“I was only trying to help!” Sobeska burst out. “I did not mean -”

“Sobeska,” Evan, putting gentle hands on her shoulders, “it’s all right. Just tell me what you did.”

“They came to me. They wanted love spells. I did my best to help. But everything went wrong. The love spells - they twisted feelings. Into hate. Into _murder.”_ Sobeska burst into tears.

Evan reached out, pulled her close, patted her back. He murmured to her, low and soothing. Miko slipped her phone out of her pocket, fired off a text message to Rodney.

_It’s a witch. We got her._

After a moment, an animated ellipsis appeared on the screen, indicating Rodney was typing a message in reply.

_Rendezvous in 30. Send coordinates._

Miko typed back, _Roger that._ Then she tapped out a message to Evan. _Rendezvous team 30._

Evan, still hugging the crying Sobeska, sneaked a glance at his smart watch, caught Miko’s eye, nodded. He pulled back, patted Sobeska’s hair some more.

“Have you cast any more spells than the three involving Eliska, Bodhana, and Julia?”

Sobeska nodded.

“Do you know how to undo it?”

Sobeska hunched her shoulders, shook her head.

“I can help you. Can you show me where you work?”

“Back at my apartment.” Sobeska was still clutching her broom. “I need to -”

“I’ll call Father Dvorak,” Evan said. “He’ll understand.” He slid his phone out of his pocket. “But we need to hurry.”

“Of course. This way.”

Sobeska only lived a few blocks away from the church, well within walking distance, which made sense, given that she lived there. Evan was on the phone to the priest who oversaw St. Ludmila’s.

“Who did you give the fourth spell to?” Miko asked.

“Adela Blazek.”

“Do you know if she’s used it yet?”

Sobeska shook her head. “No. Although -”

Miko’s watch buzzed. Text from Sam.

_Microburst detected. Heading to the scene for readings. Will catch up when we can._

Miko fired off a quick _Noted_ and then continued speaking to Sobeska. “I think she just set it off.”

Sobeska went pale. “No. It is happening again. It will be mere hours before - before Marek’s wife tries till Adela.”

“Marek?”

“The man Adela is in love with.” Sobeska took off up at the stairs at a sprint.

“What’s Marek’s last name?”

“Nemec!”

Miko shouted, “Evan, come on!” And she dashed up the stairs after Sobeska. Damn. Maybe she should start running with Sam, John, and Evan in the mornings, because breathing was agony by the time she reached Sobeska’s floor.

Sobeska fumbled with her keys, dropped them. Miko knelt to pick them up for her, and they bonked heads. Miko reeled back, stars dancing in her vision. Evan was there in an instant, his hands on her shoulders to steady her. Sobeska was crying again.

Evan unlocked the door with a flick of his wrist and the faintest thrum of magic, and then he was ushering Sobeka into the apartment.

It was small, with bare walls, a dim and flickering light overhead, appliances from the late 1970’s, threadbare carpet in the den, cracked linoleum in the kitchen, but scrupulously neat. The curtains were cheap and thin, and the walls were bare but for cheap icons of St. Ludmila and also Dogoda.

Sobeska led Evan across the apartment to a wooden chest, which she knelt before and opened with shaking hands. She drew out what looked at first to Miko like a fancy tea tray but was, in fact, a small altar for performing magic. A fine silver bowl, matches, a statue of Dogoda, and assorted jars and bottles of powders, leaves, and other arcane spell ingredients. Judging by Evan’s grim expression as he studied Sobeska’s spell lab, what she’d been doing was pretty disastrous.

Sobeska set the tray on the floor against the wall, beneath the icon of Dogoda.

Evan knelt down beside her. “Show me what you did.”

Miko fished her phone out of her pocket once more, dropped a pin on their current location and fired it off to the rest of the team. While she waited for everyone else to check in and acknowledge that they’d received the coordinates, Sobeska walked Evan through her process, how she’d mixed her ingredients, how she’d cast each spell.

“Where did you learn this spell?” Evan asked.

Sobeska bit her lip. “I -”

“Was it something you heard growing up, or was it from a book, or did you learn it from Dogoda herself?” Evan kept his tone calm and even, non-threatening.

Miko really hoped it wasn’t the third option, because the first two were easy to handle. She sent off the information about the victims of the fourth spell, Adela Blazek, Marek Nemec, and his wife. Rodney acknowledged, dispatched Dean and Vala to go find them and contain them, send for backup if necessary.

Sobeska’s eyes went wide. “Dogoda? Actual Dogoda? No. I - I have a book.”

“Will you show it to me?”

Sobeska started to rise, hesitated.

“I promise I won’t tell Father Dvorak,” Evan said.

Sobeska nodded, went back over to her wooden storage chest, and returned with, predictably, a leather-bound volume with frail, yellowing pages. She opened it carefully to a page bookmarked by - oh, for crying out loud, a tarot card - and offered it to Evan.

He scanned it, brow furrowing. Miko moved to peer over his shoulder. Of course the spell was handwritten in spidery cursive and also not in English. Not in Latin, either. Judging by the lack of vowels and Sobeska herself, the spell was in Czech.

Evan went to turn the page, frowned. “See here?” He flicked his fingernail against the very edge of the page. “Two pages, stuck together.”

Sobeska’s eyes went wide. She started crying again, apologizing over and over and over. Evan patted her shoulder.

“Calm down. We can fix this. All we have to do is get these pages unstuck, figure out what spells you combined, and everything will be fine.” Evan carried the book over to the kitchen counter and set it down carefully. “Do you know how the pages got stuck together?”

“I did not realize any pages were stuck. If I’d known -”

“I know,” Evan broke in, still gentle. “How did the pages get stuck together?”

“When I bought the book, it was raining. It fell into a puddle. I tried to dry the pages.” Sobeska bit her lip.

“Water is good. Water we can handle. Hopefully no bacteria have infected the pages. But it’s simple to unstick them. Do you have a pot? Like for soup? And some laundry line.” Evan smiled at her.

Sobeska nodded, and she fetched a pot. Miko filled it with water and set it on the stove - the old gas kind, that had to be lit with a match - and Sobeska ducked into the bathroom, returned with some laundry line. She helped Evan string a length of it over the stove, and then they had to wait for the pot to boil.

“The steam will make the pages damp enough to separate without risking tearing them or messing up the text any further. Good thing the ink was waterproof.” Evan settled against the counter, arms crossed over his chest.

“You know what they say about watching pots boil,” Miko said.

Sobeska blinked at her. “What do they say?”

Miko blinked. “Oh! I, uh -” Vala still had moments like this. Cam had always been quickest to jump in, explain an aphorism or metaphor. In Cam’s absence, Sam and Evan had taken over. “They say a watched pot never boils.”

Sobeska frowned. “But it will boil.”

“Things seem to take longer. When you’re waiting,” Miko said.

“Ah. Yes, that is true.”

There was a knock at the door.

Sobeska started, eyes wide, but Evan straightened up. “It’s just the rest of our team,” he said. “Mind if I let them in? They’re also here to help.”

Sobeska nodded, and Evan opened the door. Rodney stepped into the room. Miko made introductions, sure to use his mission alias. Given how easily Sobeska was talked into things like letting strangers into her apartment, it was better if she didn’t know their real names lest the real FBI or other law enforcement agency notice that someone was impersonating their agents on the regular.

“What have we got?” Rodney asked.

“Spell gone wrong,” Evan said. “Two pages of the spellbook were stuck together, so she was mixing and matching.”

“Mixing and matching what?”.

“A love spell and a tempest in a teapot spell. Pretty standard stuff.” Evan gestured to the spell book.

“And the solution?” Rodney pressed.

“Steam the pages apart, see about reversing the spell,” Evan said.

Rodney nodded, studying the spell.

Miko texed John. _Did you get useful readings from the microburst site?_

John responded quickly. _Got lots. Not sure if they’re useful._

Miko had turned the burner all the way up, so steam started to rise from the pot, and Evan and Sobeska hung the spell book very carefully in the steam.

“Any connection to Dogoda?” Rodney asked in a low voice.

Miko shook her head. “No literal connection. Sobeska here obviously has an affinity for her, maybe used her as inspiration or a focus, but - no. No actual deities involved.”

Evan edged closer to them. “Plan B, then?”

Miko glanced at Rodney, who nodded. Miko sent messages to John and Sam to set about looking for a nearby wooded area that fit the criteria of a possible habitation for a sylph or comparable creature. Evan and Rodney, having the most experience with old books, were working on steaming the pages apart. Miko checked in with Dean and Vala, who confirmed they’d located Marek Nemec and his wife Katka, and they were watching the house for any sign of Adela Blazek.

Evan and Rodney prodded the book repeatedly where it hung on the laundry line, testing the pages, easing them apart slowly. Finally, finally the pages parted fully, damp and curling.

“We need a hairdryer,” Evan said.

Sobeska looked confused. Rodney attempted to mime a hairdryer and looked more like he was shooting himself in the head. Sobeska looked alarmed. Evan mimed aiming a gun at Miko's head and ruffled Miko’s hair at the same time. He could mimic the sound of a hairdryer pretty well, which made sense, given that Vala used one.

Sobeska nodded. “Yes! I know what this is. But I do not have.”

“Vala’s is on the bus.” Evan glanced at Rodney. “Should you, or I?”

Miko’s watch buzzed. She checked her text messages. Vala and Dean were requesting backup. “Forget the hair dryer. We need to reverse this before someone else dies.”

Sobeska’s eyes went wide, and she looked ready to cry all over again, but Evan caught by the shoulders, shook her.

“Hey, no, stay focused. You want to save those people? You help me and Rodney. Now come on.”

Rodney grabbed Sobeska’s altar and set it on the kitchen counter beside the spell book. “What’s the plan?”

Evan shrugged off his jacket, unknotted his tie, and began unbuttoning his shirt. “Salt. Olive oil. Any other purifying agents. Find them. Sobeska, what did you use to bind the spell to Marek and Adela?”

“A photograph.”

“Do you still have it?”

She shook her head, pointed to a smattering of ash in the bottom of her silver crucible.

Evan frowned. Miko and Rodney tore through the cupboards. Rodney found the salt, Miko found the olive oil.

“What else?” Miko asked.

Evan shrugged off his button-down shirt.

“What are you _doing?”_ Sobeska asked, scandalized, but then she saw the tattoos on Evan’s collarbones and upper arms.

He peeled off his undershirt, and Sobeska stared at his spell tattoos, eyes wide. Was she afraid or fascinated? Evan picked through Sobeska’s spell ingredients, made two groups.

“These, for emotions. These, for weather. I need two more bowls.”

Sobeska tore her gaze away from him and fetched a couple of bowls from a cupboard. Under Evan’s directions, Miko mixed the emotion spell components in one bowl, Rodney mixed the weather spell components in the other. Evan murmured under his breath in a dead language, tapped a couple of his tattoos. They glowed briefly but, unlike other times, didn’t vanish. The bottle of olive oil glowed briefly for a moment as well. Evan sprinkled salt and olive oil into both bowls, and with a wave of his hand like a professional magician, the contents of both bowls lit with flame.

Sobeska uttered a soft cry, recoiled.

“It’s fine,” Evan murmured, patting her hand distractedly. Then he scooped up both bowls - with their contents still aflame - and emptied them into the silver bowl. He used his own knife to stir the contents together and then watched while they burned.

Miko called Vala. “What’s going on?”

“Adela is here. I have her subdued and restrained. Dean’s working on Katka, but Marek’s not really being helpful.” Vala’s voice went muffled for a moment, and then she said, _“Hey! I said FBI!”_ Her American accent went a bit wobbly when she got emotional, but she was pretty consistent about pretending to be American when impersonating federal agents.

In the background, Dean shouted, _I will arrest you for obstruction of justice if you don’t back up and do as I say!_

Miko cleared her throat. “Evan’s working some mojo to try to neutralize the spell that Sobeska messed up. Stay on the house for a little while longer.”

“Roger that,” Vala said.

Miko’s watch buzzed. She checked her text messages. Sam and John had identified several parks in the city and a wooded area on the outskirts of the city where they could attempt to lure a sylph or wind spirit into a specially-designed trap. John and Sam had spent a very long time designing said trap. Miko told them to rendezvous with Vala and Dean.

“Do you have a location on Adela Blazek?” Vala asked.

“Not yet. Are they calming down?”

“Er - Marek’s unconscious now,” Vala said.

A woman was shouting in the background.

Miko winced. She peered into the silver bowl. The flames were guttering. “Hopefully things will calm down soon. Sam and John are on their way, though.”

Sobeska was hanging onto Evan’s arm. “What did you do?”

Rodney said, “It was the magical equivalent of a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Kills a lot of things and hopefully killed the right thing.”

Sobeska blinked at him, confused.

Evan said, “I cast a spell that purifies many things. Hopefully it purifies the spell you cast.”

“Oh.” Sobeska nodded. She peered up at Evan. “Are you a very great witch?”

He looked uncomfortable. “Ah, no. Not a witch. Magic user, yes. Witch, no.” He’d had to answer precisely that question so many times.

“What now?” Vala asked.

The flames were still flickering in the bowl, ever so faintly. Olive oil took a long time to burn.

“Spell’s still taking its time,” Miko said. Her watch buzzed again. Sam and John had arrived.

“I expect this lovely lady is none other than Adela Blazek,” Vala murmured, and then louder, voice a little deeper and more strident, American-accented, “Ma’am, we’re federal agents. You need to stay back while we handle this.”

There was an explosion of women shouting, and then John and Sam shouting.

And then quiet.

The flames in the bowl guttered out.

“Well,” Vala said, “tell Evan well done and thanks for the magic. Over and out.” And she hung up.

Rodney, who’d been taking readings of the spell, glanced at Miko, and Miko flashed him a thumbs up, pocketed her phone.

Evan tugged on his undershirt, tucked it into his trousers. “Now, Sobeska, let’s talk about what went wrong and how you can fix it on your own next time, all right?”

“Yes, Evan.” Sobeska pulled up a couple of chairs, and Evan tugged the spellbook close, leaned in to speak to her softly.

“How are things going with the spell’s targets?” Rodney asked.

“The others seem to have things under control,” Miko said. “Everyone’s calmed down. It’s just clean-up from here.”

Clean-up involved some amount of smooth-talking with the civilians involved, possibly some minor hypnotism of any law enforcement who got too tangled up in the mission, and also a lot of post-mission hacking of local LEO precincts so all the proper paperwork was in order. That way, no one asked too many questions, and the team could move on. Luckily, the last time they’d come through this area they hadn’t tangled with law enforcement at all, and this time law enforcement involvement had been minimal, plus they had a grateful Radek and Sobeska to help cover their tracks, not to mention Akane and Yuki would help as well.

No doubt Miko, Sam, and Rodney would be awake late handling the paperwork. Hopefully they’d have tasty gourmet sushi to fuel them while they did it.

Rodney fell silent, checking emails on his phone as well as the text messages from Sam and John about trying to summon and trap an air spirit. Miko used her phone to VPN into her laptop so she could at least get started filling out inter-agency resource forms. Most of that involved copying and pasting the right aliases into the right places.

Text messages trickled in from the others - situation defused, all parties calm, no charges going to be filed, not too many questions asked. Apparently Sam shamelessly played on the parties’ cultural superstitions and convinced them that going to the local police would bring Father Dvorak down on their heads, whereas federal agents were a lot more open-minded. Vala had a very stern talk with Adela Blazek about how love spells were dangerous and to find a man the old-fashioned way. With charm.

Rodney instructed them to head back to the bus where they could rendezvous and then head to Yuki and Akane’s place as a group.

Dean immediately perked up at the mention of food, and his text messages were full of cheerful emoticons.

Rodney cleared his throat. “Evan, are you about finished?” And then he swore in French.

Miko lifted her head - and she felt it, the thrum of magic. All the air in the room went heavy, thick, and Miko couldn’t draw a good breath.

Flames danced in Sobeska’s silver bowl, and more flames danced in the palm of her hand.

Evan was leaning in slowly, slowly, his eyes slipping closed, like Sleeping Beauty about to slide into an endless dream.

Sobeska, smiling, tilted her head up to kiss him.

Evan said, “Oh, Sobeska, haven’t you learned by now? Love spells never work.” His eyes opened, and his glass eye flashed, and then Sobeska was slumping over, unconscious.

Her spell flames had gone out.

Evan lowered her to the counter gently, stood up. He straightened his tie absently.  “It’s time for us to go.”

“What the hell just happened?” Rodney demanded.

“She was playing us,” Evan said, expression sober. “She knew exactly what she was doing with that spell. She saw what power I have and thought she’d try her hand at enslaving me.” He picked up her spellbook. “This’ll slow her down. And make a good addition to our library. We’ll have to strip the tracking and binding spells off of it, though.”

“Might make it fall apart,” Rodney said.

“Better it fall apart than she keep using it,” Evan replied. “I bound her magic,” he added, and he looked a little sad.

Miko stared at the unconscious Sobeska in disbelief, then looked at Evan. She’d never seen his eye do that before.

The three of them slipped out of her apartment, headed back for the bus.

“Love spells don’t work because they cannot create false love, love where there is none,” Rodney said. “But they can compel someone, make them act like they’re in love, usually enough to fool someone else - not the caster. Or, well, not for long.” He eyed Evan sidelong. “You’ve fallen prey to compulsions before.”

“Sobeska is nowhere near as strong as Northot was.” Evan kept the spellbook tucked under his arm, looked perfectly cool and casual with it.

Miko winced at the reminder of the encounter with the Elder God but said nothing.

The rest of the team was already back at the bus. Vala and Sam had changed out of their fed suits and into comfortable clothes.

Dean started toward Evan. “Hey, I felt something through the soulbond. Is everything all right?”

Rodney’s expression turned pinched at the mention of their soulbond.

Evan smiled, pressed a kiss to Dean’s cheek. “Everything is fine. Sobeska tried a bit of witchcraft on me, but love spells are unreliable at best, and completely useless when a soulbond already exists between the spell’s target and someone other than the spell’s caster.”

Dean didn’t look convinced. Miko piped up with mention of food at Yuki and Akane’s house, and everyone was much more motivated to get underway.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Dean asked in a low voice while he and Evan were changing on the other side of the door from the back bunk where Miko was changing.

“I’m fine, I promise,” Evan said. “Sam and John ready to try that sylph binding?”

“Yeah,” Dean said, and he sounded grim instead of pleased.

“Sushi first,” Evan said, tone lighter. “Now come here and help me with my tie.”

*

Dinner with Yuki and her family was awesome, and not just because of the delicious food. Miko loved her nieces - Evan had a pair of nephews, didn’t he? - and playing with them was fun. They showed off the things they were learning in school, songs and recitations and even some martial arts skills. Inexplicably, they adored Sam, who was not well-known for his way with kids, but he let them climb all over him and hang off his arms, and he performed lightning-fast calculations for them when they asked. They asked for permission to call him Uncle Sam and didn’t understand why Evan, Dean, and John burst out laughing and why Sam looked so alarmed, but he said yes, and all was well.

“Is everything okay?” Yuki asked under cover of helping Miko with the dishes (which was silly, because Yuki had cooked, but she did also know where all the dishes went, and she was pretty precious about how her sushi knives and mats were washed).

“Yes,” Miko said, smiling at her.

“Just - the last time you came here, there were microbursts and it was a little insane, and there were microbursts again.”

“There were, but it was something different,” Miko said, “and we took care of it.”

Yuki looked at her for a long time. “I don’t know what it is you do for the government, and I don’t think I should know. Just - promise me you’re being safe.”

Miko met her gaze. “I serve with the best and the brightest in the country, if not the world. It doesn’t get much safer than this.”

“All right.” Yuki kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad to see you again, however soon it is after the holidays.” She glanced toward the den. “Things have changed, though, haven’t they? On your team?”

“What do you mean?”

“I won’t say anything,” Yuki said quickly. “Just - McKay and John. Dean and Evan.”

“Apparently Dean and Evan were a thing and none of us knew,” Miko said. “But McKay and John - that is new.”

Yuki nudged her. “What about you? Anyone special?”

“No, but that’s okay. I’m fine.”

“Okay. But you’d tell me -”

“You’d be the first to know.” Miko smiled at her sister, brighter. “How is the restaurant?”

“Been working on a new flavor of mochi ice cream. Dragon fruit.”

“Ooh! Do you have any samples?”

Yuki winked. “I just might.”

“Share, share!”

Yuki did, with everyone.

As hospitable as Yuki and Akane were, there was just no way for the entire team to sleep in their apartment, so Miko got to stay in the guest room and the rest of the team retired to the bus. Vala and Sam were having a spirited discussion about bed swaps. Vala was willing to sleep in Sam’s bed so he could have the big bed, being the tallest and all, then Evan could sleep on the couch so everyone had something resembling a decent bed.

Miko curled up in her bed - this place was the closest she had to a home, outside the bus and the Bunker - and hoped they would be able to find what they were looking for.

She’d felt something, when Daniel had put that Atlantean medallion on the table in the archives. Atlantis was calling to her, and she wanted to go there.

*

For the next two days, Miko was on the phone constantly with Jennifer, who acted as Team O’Neill-Carter’s coordinator. Both teams were roaming the woodlands - Team McKay-Sheppard outside Frisco, Team O’Neill-Carter in Minnesota - and leaving out offerings for air spirits, but so far no nothing and responded.

“At least we got the warm zone,” Vala offered.

Minnesota this time of year must have been freezing.

Miko and her team stood beneath a massive oak tree, a bowl of wine nestled between its roots, an incomplete sylph trap carved into the soil. One slash of a knife to complete the final line would trap a sylph as soon as it arrived.

If one arrived.

They’d tried wine and honey and mead and all manner of spirits (pun not intended).

“Maybe we need to try somewhere with a more Celtic presence,” Sam said. “Or a more elemental one?”

Miko nodded. “Perhaps.”

“It doesn’t get much more rural and elemental than Minnesota, does it?” Rodney asked.

“Minnesota’s pretty - viking, though, isn’t it?” John glanced at Sam.

“Yes,” Sam said. “New England? Would that be better?”

And then Miko felt it, a thrum in the air, the same kind of sensation she’d felt under her skin, in the back of her head, in her _bones_ when John had activated the Atlantean medallion.

There was a ripple in the air, and Miko couldn’t breathe. A tiny column of flame danced above the surface of the bowl of wine, winked out. A tiny fork of lightning flickered a second later.

“It’s here,” Evan whispered.

Vala lunged, carved the last line into place.

Miko sensed another change in the air, a displacement of air like a door being slammed shut.

And there it was, the air spirit.

Vaguely humanoid, a twisting of flame and lightning and wind, the suggestion of a face here, of a hand there as it battered against the invisible edges of the trap.

“Let me go!”

Miko hadn’t expected its voice to beautiful. Musical. Soft and sweet, genderless.

“Sorry,” Rodney said, completely unapologetic, “but we need you for a spell.”

He nodded to Sam, who had a specially-designed box from Carter, one covered in containment sigils.

Sam opened the lid and started to chant.

The spirit screamed in pain, writhed.

The bowl of wine tipped over.

“No, please!”

Sam kept chanting.

Lightning and fire flashed, whirled, flickered and twisted, and the spirit was shrieking in agony.

Miko curled her hands into fists. Was it any more grossly immoral to trap and use a sentient nonhuman being? No one had opened the gate to Atlantis because it required the sacrifice of a human.

Were they sacrificing something greater?

John and Vala reached out, steadying Sam as he shuddered under the weight of the spell. The sigils on the box started to glow. Sam continued chanting. Dean had one hand curled on the hilt of his demon-slaying knife, jaw tight. Rodney’s eyes were alight with excitement.

Evan looked - heartbroken.

Before Miko’s eyes, the air spirit writhed and twisted and screamed, and it - collapsed on itself. Fire and lightning and air coiled tighter, coalescing, solidifying.

Into a woman.

Between the flashes of fire and lightning and air, Miko saw her, pale-skinned, blue-eyed, dark-haired.

She was wrapped in chains and screaming and screaming and _screaming._

The final syllable of Sam’s spell fell on the air like a hammer.

The box slammed shut.

The sigils glowed one last time before they faded.

A naked woman stood in the circle where the spirit had been.

“Let me go,” she pleaded. Her voice was tiny, weak. No longer musical, no longer beautiful.

Rodney stared at her. He nudged Sam. “Did you know this would happen?”

“No,” Sam said, eyes wide. “Vala, would you -?”

Vala immediately dashed the line in the dirt with her foot, broke the binding circle.

The woman buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Rodney swallowed hard. “Clothes! She needs -”

Dean shrugged off his jacket and set it across the woman’s shoulders. She wailed and recoiled from his touch, and his jacket fell to the ground.

“I’ll go get some of mine,” Miko said, and started back toward the bus.

Cries of alarm rose up, and Miko spun, reaching for her weapon. The woman had lunged at Evan and was clinging to his shoulders.

“How could you let them do this to me? Let me go. Let me go!”

Instead of his usual gentle reassurances, Evan closed his eyes and clung to her right back. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I -”

The woman cupped her hands around Evan’s face, smoothed a thumb over his eyelids. “How could you let them do this to _you?”_

Evan shook his head. “They didn’t do this to me.” He opened his eyes.

The woman stared at his glass eye in horror. “You - you _did this_ to yourself?”

Evan darted a look at Dean. “It’s not how you think.”

“Then how is it?” the woman demanded. She pressed a hand to Evan’s chest, and her eyes narrowed.

“Evan, what’s going on?” John asked. He had his gun in one hand and a canister of salt in the other.

The woman spun, fixed her gaze on Dean. _“You._ Give it back!”

“Give what back, lady?” Dean protested, raised his knife in a defensive posture.

He was no match for whatever the woman was even in corporeal form. She plucked the knife from his grasp, cast it aside, and slammed her hand into his chest.

Dean screamed and arched like she was electrocuting him.

Sam shouted. He thrust the containment box at Rodney and lunged toward his brother.

Vala, Miko, and John attacked - John with salt, Vala with a water pistol full of holy water, Miko with a water pistol full of holy oil.

Evan reached for Dean. “Stop!”

Dean’s voice cut off, and he crumpled.

And Evan...dissolved.

One moment he was there, the next he was flame and lightning and wind.

But between the flashes of lightning and fire and wind, Evan was there. Wrapped in chains, head bowed, unmoving.

Rodney dropped the containment box.

Miko snatched it up. She wrenched the lid open, and a tornado gushed out of it. The woman vanished. Dean hit the ground.

Lightning split the sky. Fire lanced through the clouds.

And then Evan was kneeling beside Dean, cradling Dean’s head in his lap.

Lightning flashed overhead once more, and there it was, that beautiful, musical voice.

“How could you? After Sycorax, after Prospero, after everyone before and between and after -?”

 _“I love him.”_ Evan’s voice was like a thunderclap. “I gave him my air and let him tame me and I would do it again.” Then his voice was like a sob. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let them try to trap you. Go. _Go.”_

“But Ariel -”

“My name is Evan.”

“Sibling -”

“You’ve been set free. Go.”

“Come with me.”

“My place is here.”

“You can’t fly anymore.”

“I know.”

Miko felt the briefest stirring in the air, a faint breeze, and then the air spirit was gone.

Dean opened his eyes. He surged upward, caught Evan by the shoulder. “You’re still here.”

Evan nodded. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Rodney snatched the containment box from Miko. “What the hell just happened?”

“I’ll call Jennifer,” Miko said. “Tell their team to call the search off.”

Evan glanced at her. “Thank you.”

“This is why you suggested the goddess, isn’t it?” Rodney asked.

Evan avoided his gaze, helped Dean to his feet. Sam was there to support Dean from the other side.

Vala and John cast each other uncertain looks.

“What do we do now?” John asked. “About air?”

No one had an answer.

Miko called Jennifer, told her to hold off attempting to capture a sylph. Everyone piled onto the bus. Sam and Evan installed Evan in the back bunk. Vala and John took the wheel and the navigator’s chair.

Rodney sank down at the little kitchen table, staring at nothing. Miko sat opposite him.

“How could I not have known? The signs were all there.”

“Evan didn’t want us to know,” Miko said, “and what Evan wants, Evan gets.”

“But he’s not -”

“Human? Neither is John. Apparently neither am I.” Miko leaned in, caught his gaze, held it. “Nothing has to change. We’re still us, still our team.”

They fell silent, swaying with the bus as Vala guided it out of the parking lot and onto the highway. They were headed back to the Bunker. They could divert along the way to try for another way of finding the air element they needed for their spell, if Carter and her team thought up anything else.

Half an hour later, Sam stumbled out of the back, flopped down beside Miko.

“Is your brother all right?” Rodney asked.

Sam scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah. Evan’s working some low-level healing mojo.” He sighed. “Evan. I don’t even know what to think. I just - he served in the Air Force. He has a human family. He had a _childhood.”_

“Did he?” Rodney asked.

“You’ve met his sister. She gives us ink.” Sam peered at Rodney from between his fingers. “Right?”

“We aren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other,” Rodney said in a small voice. “Especially not secrets that could endanger us. That other sylph could have killed your brother.”

Sam’s jaw tightened. “I know.”

“Dean knew, didn’t he?” Miko asked.

Sam sighed again. “I think so. What do we do about air?”

And then Miko remembered. “Hey. Remember Ryu, last year? The dragon,” she said, when Rodney looked confused.

Sam nodded. “What about him?”

“He was a torch dragon, who creates seasonal winds by breathing.”

Rodney straightened up. “Winds. By breathing.”

Miko nodded. “Yes.”

Rodney’s eyes went wide. “We still have his pearl. And you - you’re part dragon, right?”

“Or so Daniel thinks.”

Sam said, “Evan said he gave Dean his air, and that’s why he can’t fly any longer.”

Miko wondered if Cam had known what Evan was.

“What if we asked one of the sylphs to give us a bit of air?”

“Or a dragon,” Miko said.

Sam warmed to the subject. “Instead of just taking, we should ask.”

Miko called Jennifer. “Change of plans. Don’t trap, ask. Leave an offering, and when the spirit comes, ask.”

Jennifer said nothing for a moment, then, “Roger that. I’ll pass that on to Colonel Carter.”

“Good luck,” Miko said. “Godspeed and good hunting.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Folklore Day of the Shoobie Monster Fest.
> 
> Title from The Tempest by Shakespeare.


End file.
